The Third Man - From the Current - The Criterion Collection The Criterion Collection The Third Man By Michael Wilmington In The Third Man—probably the greatest British thriller of the postwar era—director Carol Reed and screenwriter Graham Greene set a fable of moral corruption in a world of near-Byzantine visual complexity: the streets and ruins of occupied Vienna. It is a Vienna far removed from the rollicking erotics of Ernst Lubitsch or the wistful elegance and melancholy beauty of Max Ophüls. Decadence and rot have seeped into the city’s very soul, poisoned it, left almost nothing unstained. This Vienna is a movie milieu as densely evocative and haunting as Curtiz’s Casablanca or Sternberg’s Morocco—yet, unlike them, it is primarily the real Vienna, the real streets, the real rubble: shot by Reed and cameraman Robert Krasker in such a striking style (almost constant off-angle compositions and wide-angle lens distortions), that it takes on a patina of nightmare. Through this macabre landscape—over which Anton Karas’ legendary zither score jangles with ironic jauntiness—the tale unwinds.

A naïve and foolishly romantic American novelist, Holly Martins (a specialist in Zane Grey-style westerns) pursues the murderers of his best friend, Harry Lime; spars with the cynical British police major, Calloway; hunts for the mysterious “third man” who witnessed Harry’s death; and falls hopelessly and unrequitedly in love with Harry’s mistress, Anna. Finally, in two symbolic settings—a ferris wheel towering above the city, and the shadowy chaos of the sewers—Holly comes face to face with the supreme evil, the supreme betrayal: both Harry’s and his own. The Third Man is one of those rare films that captured its audience immediately and was regarded as a classic almost from its first release. It marks one of those unusual conjunctions of script, director, subject, cast and setting—and, of course, music—in which everything works. Graham Greene’s script, based on his novel, is a brilliant evocation of the urban battleground of good and evil, with just the right proportions of drama, atmosphere, action, rich character and tense construction.

The acting ensemble is superb, with the mixture of Americans and Europeans in the cast creating an ideal balance: Trevor Howard as the pragmatic and brutally unsparing Calloway; Bernard Lee as the gentle Sergeant Paine; Wilfred Hyde-White as Crabbin, the slightly addled literary entrepreneur; Ernst Deutsch as the sinister, ferrety “Baron” Kurtz; Alida Valli, exuding fatalistic romance as Anna; and those two refugees from Citizen Kane, Orson Welles and Joseph Cotten, as the two old friends torn asunder, the dark side and the light, Harry and Holly—their names so similar Anna often confuses them. Welles’ relatively brief performance as Harry Lime is perfection itself: the bemused, lightly condescending, affectionate look with which he greets Holly; the murderous fluency of his Machiavellian story of the cuckoo clock (which Welles himself wrote); or the wild desperation as he flounders in the sewer. This is magnificent, highly charged film acting.

Because the two great set pieces in The Third Man—the ferris wheel confrontation and the chase through the sewers—both revolve around Welles, and because they’re shot with the kind of weirdly angled grandiloquence and impudent virtuosity for which he’s noted, there’s been a temptation to believe that he directed them. Invaluable as Welles’ contributions and performance were, the directorial triumph is Reed’s. He is the hero, and dominating influence—insisting that it be shot in Vienna; insisting that Welles play Harry Lime over distributor David Selznick’s forceful nomination of Noel Coward; resisting Selznick’s usual indefatigable memos and attempted “Americanization” of the script; discovering Anton Karas and his zither in a tiny beer and sausage restaurant (“The Harry Lime Theme” became a major hit record of its day); and finally, rejecting even Graham Greene’s suggestion of a climatic rapprochement between Anna and Holly.

(Ironically, there is a famous moment in Welles’ performance which is Reed’s too: Harry Lime’s hands, reaching desperately through the sewer grating, fingers flailing in the windy night air, actually belong to a stand-in—the director.) Yet, perhaps Carol Reed took too seriously the suggestion that Welles’ hand lay somewhere in The Third Man. He never again caught the peculiar and vibrant visual stylization, the special “look” which makes this film and his earlier Odd Man Out such a stunning experience. (William Wyler, after watching the film, presented Reed with a spirit level, to place on his camera next time, forcibly preventing any angle shots.) This was the one time Reed, as a director, reached perfection; and he did it as much by assembling and marshalling a brilliantly talented company as by the power of his own vision. Together he and Greene—and Welles, Cotten, Howard, Valli, Karas, Krasker, Korda and all the others—created a portrait of postwar corruption and the death of idealism that has lodged ever since in our collective consciousness. Together, they made a rich, moody masterpiece of guilt, love, and ambivalent redemption.

Michael Wilmington is a film critic for the Chicago Tribune. Film locations for The Third Man (1949) Vienna: Flights: Vienna International Airport You can take guided Third Man walking tours of the city. For latest details on visiting the famous sewer system (hey, what else would you want to do on your holiday?), consult the Vienna Tourist Board . Holly Martins got himself a good deal, so unless you have a pal in British Intelligence to foot the bill, you'll have to shell out big bucks today to stay at the luxurious Hotel Sacher Wien, Philharmonikerstrasse 4 (tel: 0222.514560), behind the Opera House. But you know it's worth it. Catch a performance at Josefstadt Theatre, Josefstadterstrasse 26 (tel: 0222.4025127). Despite the real cafe not being seen in the movie, it's still forever associated with the film ("Cafe Mozart, eight'o'clock" hisses Jim Dale in Carry On Spying). Cafe Mozart, Albertinaplatz 2.

Trivia Prater, Vienna’s huge park which houses the famous ferris wheel, is featured in 1987 Bond movie The Living Daylights and in Fred Zinneman ’s The Day of the Jackal . The Third Man filming location: Harry Lime’s “cuckoo clock” speech on the ferris wheel: Riesenrad, Prater, Vienna, Austria Providing one of the first and most famous film location tours, fans of the Carol Reed classic have been visiting the setting of Vienna for many years. The city, as press releases love to say, is almost another character in the film. Naive Western writer Holly Martins ( Joseph Cotten ) arrives in war-ravaged Vienna on the promise of a job from his friend, the shady Harry Lime ( Orson Welles ). Graham Greene’s story is given heavy expressionist treatment with wildly tilting camera angles. After seeing the film, veteran director William Wyler sent Carol Reed a spirit level. The movie makes great use of the rubble-strewn city, though some interiors were reconstructed at Shepperton Studios in London .

Arriving at Westbahnhof, Europaplatz (Vienna’s West Railway Station, from which he later goes to watch Anna Schmidt ( Alida Valli ) leave), Martins is taken to Harry Lime’s apartment building, which is supposedly ‘15 Stiftgasse’. The palatial building, though, with its statuesque entrance, is Palais Pallavicini, Josefsplatz 5, which is where Martins learns his pal died after being hit by a truck. Lime is – apparently – being buried with the great and the good in Vienna’s Central Cemetery, the Zentral-Friedhof, Simmeringen Hauptstrasse in District 11. A deleted shot, intended to establish the locale, panned across the memorials of celeb internees Brahms and Beethoven. Music lovers can also pay homage at the graves of Schubert and the Strausses. At the funeral, Martins meets English intelligence officer Major Calloway ( Trevor Howard ), who arranges for him to stay at the venerable Hotel Sacher Wien, Philharmonikerstrasse 4, behind the Opera House. At today’s top-of-the-range rates, that’s a pretty generous offer.

Martins meets Lime’s sinisterly camp friend, Kurtz, at another Viennese institution, the Cafe Mozart. Although the scene was not actually filmed at the cafe, but nearby, on Tegetthofstrasse at Neuer Markt, you’ll probably want to visit anyway: Cafe Mozart, Albertinaplatz 2. And, like Holly Martins, going to see Anna, you can still attend performances at the Josefstadt Theatre, Josefstadterstrasse 26 (tel: 0222/4025127); or spend some time at the Casanova Club, Dorotheergasse 6, where Martins meets Kurtz and the second man to witness Lime’s ‘accident’, Popescu. You can take a stroll on the Reichsbrucke, over the Danube, but it’s not the same bridge on which Dr Winkel meets up with Kurtz, Popescu and the mysterious third man. A sleek, modern structure has replaced the the original suspension bridge, which collapsed in the 1970s.

The Third Man filming location: Harry Lime’s mysterious entrance in the doorway: Schreyvogelgasse, Vienna, Austria Harry Lime finally makes his long-awaited entrance, a kitten nibbling the laces of his shoes (the laces having been coated with pilchard) in the ornate doorway at 8 Schreyvogelgasse. The unpredictable Orson Welles proved to be almost as elusive as Lime himself, and wasn’t always available for filming. As the sly racketeer scoots off into the night, the shadow on the wall is actually that of assistant director Guy Hamilton , who went on to helm several Bond movies, including Goldfinger and The Man With The Golden Gun . The vast, cobbled square, in which Lime disappears, is Am Hof. Disappointingly, you won’t see the central kiosk, which hides the entrance to the sewers, which was no more than a prop erected for the film. Lime comes to meet Martins at the big wheel (where Orson Welles gives his, allegedly, self-penned ‘cuckoo clock’ speech).

The Riesenrad, the Grand Ferris Wheel, erected in 1896 and restored in 1948 after war damage, still stands in the Prater, Vienna’s huge park in District 2, between the Danube and the Danube Canal (subway: Praterstern). The park and the wheel are featured again in 1987 Bond movie The Living Daylights . Finally convinced of Lime’s villainy, Martins colludes with the trap, set at Hoher Markt, the oldest square in Vienna, with its elaborate 17th-century nuptial fountain. Lime retreats into the sewers beneath the city, where his career is cut short. You can tour the sewer system, if you like. For latest details, consult the Vienna Tourist Board , or take guided Third Man walking tours of the city. The Third Man (1949) - IMDb IMDb There was an error trying to load your rating for this title. Some parts of this page won't work property. Please reload or try later. X Beta I'm Watching This! Keep track of everything you watch; tell your friends.

Error From $2.99 (SD) on Amazon Video ON DISC Pulp novelist Holly Martins travels to shadowy, postwar Vienna, only to find himself investigating the mysterious death of an old friend, Harry Lime. Director: a list of 47 titles created 29 Nov 2011 a list of 34 titles created 28 Dec 2012 a list of 25 titles created 19 Aug 2014 a list of 22 titles created 24 Feb 2015 a list of 25 titles created 3 months ago Title: The Third Man (1949) 8.3/10 Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Use the HTML below. You must be a registered user to use the IMDb rating plugin. Won 1 Oscar. Another 4 wins & 4 nominations. See more awards » Videos A stark, perverse story of murder, kidnapping, and police corruption in a Mexican border town. Director: Orson Welles A hack screenwriter writes a screenplay for a former silent-film star who has faded into Hollywood obscurity.

Director: Billy Wilder An insurance representative lets himself be talked into a murder/insurance fraud scheme that arouses an insurance investigator's suspicions. Director: Billy Wilder A private detective takes on a case that involves him with three eccentric criminals, a gorgeous liar, and their quest for a priceless statuette. Director: John Huston Fred Dobbs and Bob Curtin, two Americans searching for work in Mexico, convince an old prospector to help them mine for gold in the Sierra Madre Mountains. Director: John Huston Following the death of a publishing tycoon, news reporters scramble to discover the meaning of his final utterance. Director: Orson Welles When the police in a German city are unable to catch a child-murderer, other criminals join in the manhunt. Director: Fritz Lang A man tries to rise in his company by letting its executives use his apartment for trysts, but complications and a romance of his own ensue. Director: Billy Wilder When two male musicians witness a mob hit, they flee the state in an all-female band disguised as women, but further complications set in.

Director: Billy Wilder A hapless New York advertising executive is mistaken for a government agent by a group of foreign spies, and is pursued across the country while he looks for a way to survive. Director: Alfred Hitchcock A veteran British barrister must defend his client in a murder trial that has surprise after surprise. Director: Billy Wilder A self-conscious bride is tormented by the memory of her husband's dead first wife. Director: Alfred Hitchcock Edit Storyline An out of work pulp fiction novelist, Holly Martins, arrives in a post war Vienna divided into sectors by the victorious allies, and where a shortage of supplies has lead to a flourishing black market. He arrives at the invitation of an ex-school friend, Harry Lime, who has offered him a job, only to discover that Lime has recently died in a peculiar traffic accident. From talking to Lime's friends and associates Martins soon notices that some of the stories are inconsistent, and determines to discover what really happened to Harry Lime.

Written by Mark Thompson <mrt@oasis.icl.co.uk> Carol Reed's Classic Thriller See more » Genres: 31 August 1949 (UK) See more » Also Known As: The 3rd Man See more » Filming Locations: $13,576 (USA) (7 May 1999) Gross: Graham Greene 's only original screenplay. See more » Goofs In the sewer, before putting his fingers through the grate, Harry Lime holds the stair's supporting pole with his right hand, but the gun should be in his hand, as displayed before and after this shot. See more » Quotes Opening credits prologue: V I E N N A See more » Connections That Terrific B&W Cinematography 20 June 2009 | by Lechuguilla (Dallas, Texas) – See all my reviews In a bombed-out Vienna just after WWII, novelist Holly Martins (Joseph Cotten) arrives from America to renew a friendship with his childhood buddy, Harry Lime (Orson Welles). Much to the dismay of Holly, a freak auto accident has recently killed his friend, according to those who knew Harry.

But in searching for details of Lime's death, Holly gets contradictory stories that don't add up. One of the persons who knew Lime is an attractive woman named Anna Schmidt (Alida Valli) whose continued presence in the story invites suspicion. The film's plot has Holly searching for the truth about his friend, while trying to stave off a city detective, Major Calloway (Trevor Howard) who tries to persuade Holly to leave Vienna. The film's story is okay. But what makes "The Third Man" really interesting is the B&W cinematography, by Robert Krasker. Unlike most films, camera movement here is restricted, so as to draw attention to each frame's geometry. Typically in this film, a frame is tilted at an angle so that both vertical and horizontal points of reference are off-kilter. Frame images thus become a series of diagonal straight lines and curves. Further, very high-contrast lighting, especially in outdoor scenes at night, creates a bizarre, almost nightmarish look and feel, and are suggestive of German Expressionism. All of which results in a visual disorientation for viewers that parallels Holly's disorientation both in the streets of Vienna and in his understanding of the circumstances surrounding Lime's absence.

In most outdoor scenes there's a conspicuous lack of crowds, a lack of hubbub one would expect in a bustling city. Instead, only a few secondary characters appear in night scenes. This sparseness in characters on the streets conveys the impression that hidden eyes are watching Holly, ready to pounce at any moment from out of dark shadows. "Everybody ought to (be) careful in a city like this", says one character to Holly, as an implied threat. Soon, a man who wants to give Holly some valuable information is murdered. The script's dialogue is quite impressive, with some interesting lines and points of view. Some of the dialogue is in German, which enhances authenticity. The film's acting and editing are very, very good. Adding a slightly romantic, and at times melancholy, tone to this dark film is the music of the "zither", an instrument similar to a guitar, but sounding quite different. My one complaint about this film is that it's hard to keep tabs on some of the background characters. Trying to connect names with faces can be difficult, resulting in some confusion.

"The Third Man" tells an interestingly bleak story, set in a bleak, desolate urban environment, rendered truly mesmerizing by the creatively surreal B&W cinematography. 27 of 49 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes The Third Man in Vienna - VIENNA – Now. Forever The Third Man in Vienna add to my travel plan Silver screen classic “The Third Man” was shot in Vienna in 1948. Today, visitors can retrace the footsteps of Harry Lime on the Third Man Tour sewer tour, at the Riesenrad (the Giant Ferris Wheel) and in the Third Man Museum. The Giant Ferris Wheel in the Prater, the Vienna sewers, Orson Welles and the haunting zither music of Anton Karas – The Third Man painted a picture of Vienna previously unseen on the big screen. Director Carol Reed presented the story of the smuggler Harry Lime, played by Orson Welles, which turns into a game of cat and mouse set in the Vienna of 1948.

While Reed portrays the city’s dark side, like the sewers and the rubble left by the war, the film also shows the picturesque streets of the old town and Viennese trademarks such as the Giant Ferris Wheel. Sixty years on, “The Third Man” has lost none of its fascinating qualities, as visitors can see for themselves by taking a Third Man tour. With the help of pictures and music samples, the Third Man walking tour gives visitors a taste of the film’s atmosphere and follows the trail of Harry Lime to original locations in the Old Town, such as Josephsplatz and Mölkerbastei. The Third Man Tour - Canal takes visitors down the original staircase from the movie into one of the older parts of Vienna's sewer system. The cholera canals were built in the 1830s and have been nearly untouched to this day. Modern projection and light technology lets the visitors immerse themselves in the world of sewer workers, movie agents, smugglers and spies. The conclusion of the tour offers a unique "subterranean view" of the Wien River. The river disappears in a massive arched vault below the Naschmarkt, impressively illuminated by spotlights.

The Burg Kino cinema on Opernring shows The Third Man every Tuesday, Friday and Sunday. A digitally restored version of the film in the new 4K resolution was released worldwide as a collector’s edition on DVD and BluRay in summer 2015. The Third Man Museum also offers more insights into the world of this cinema classic. Besides numerous props from the film, and photos and objects from the post-WWII era, Anton Karas’ zither from the world-famous theme tune is also on display here. The Third Man tour takes in both the Third Man Museum and the Burg Kino cinema. A visit to one of the stopping points entitles visitors to discounts on the others. Popular destinations for outings include the Zentralfriedhof ( Central Cemetery ) in Simmering – which can be seen at the beginning and end of the film – and the traditional Prater amusement park with its Giant Ferris Wheel . The location for one of the film’s main scenes offers amazing views over the city. Gallery on the hour Th - Su, 10:00 - 20:00 Last tour at 19, minimum age: 12. Registration mandatory!

The Third Man (1949) Pages: ( 1 ) ( 2 ) ( 3 ) Background The Third Man (1949) is a visually-stylish thriller - a paranoid story of social, economic, and moral corruption in a depressed, rotting and crumbling, 20th century Vienna following World War II. The striking film-noirish, shadowy thriller was filmed expressionistically within the decadent, shattered and poisoned city that has been sector-divided along geo-political lines. The black and white, pessimistic film is one of the greatest British thrillers of the post-war era, in the best Alfred Hitchcock tradition, and beautifully produced and directed by Britisher Carol Reed. It was voted the #1 British Film of the 20th Century by the esteemed British Film Institute (BFI). It was co-produced by Hungarian-born Alexander Korda and American movie mogul David O. Selznick. Because Korda gave American distribution rights to Selznick (who cut eleven minutes from the original British version), the credits of the US version include Selznick references. This was Reed's second collaboration with British screenwriter-author Graham Greene (after The Fallen Idol (1948)).

It was based on Greene's novella of the same name, written solely to be a source text for the film screenplay and never intended to be read or published. It was a clever and original mystery tale simply evoked by one sentence written by Greene: "I saw a man walking down the Strand, whose funeral I had only recently attended." It told of a love triangle with nightmarish suspense, treachery, betrayal, guilt and disillusionment. Its two most famous sequences include the Ferris-wheel showdown high atop a deserted fairground with the famous cuckoo clock speech (written by Orson Welles), and the climactic chase through the underground network of sewers beneath the cobblestone streets. In defiance of US producer Selznick, Reed boldly refused to cast Noel Coward in the Harry Lime role (played ultimately by Orson Welles), insisted on a downbeat ending and demanded that it be shot on-location in expressionistic, documentary-style.

[Cary Grant and James Stewart were also considered for the role of naive novelist Holly Martins (named Rollo Martin originally), ultimately played by Welles' Mercury Theatre actor and Citizen Kane (1941) co-star Joseph Cotten.] The director knew that the film's musical score could not be reflective of the traditional Old Vienna - waltz music by Strauss. Instead, it would be provided by a solo instrument -- a zither. The jaunty but haunting musical score by Viennese composer/performer Anton Karas lingers long after the film's viewing with its twangy, mermerizing, lamenting, disconcerting (and sometimes irritating) hurdy-gurdy tones. In fact, Karas' musical instrument was a leading film character and advertised as such: "He'll have you in a dither with his zither (a laptop string instrument)." The insistent, chilling music sets a mood of polarized dislocations in the world (e.g., war and play, men and children) and in the corrupted city's 'no-man's-land' environment (with its bombed out, war-torn ruins, dark and slick streets, cemeteries and sewers criss-crossing beneath the sectored zones).

Surprisingly, it was nominated for only three Academy Awards in 1950, including Best Director, and Best Film Editing. Its sole Oscar was for Robert Krasker's vivid, atmospheric, moody black/white cinematography (although the final long cemetery walk scene was actually shot by uncredited German cameraman Hans Schneeberger). Unusually reckless, canted camera angles (one of their earliest uses), and wide-angle lens distortions amidst the atmospheric on-location views of a shadowy Vienna cast a somber mood over the fable of post-war moral ambiguity and ambivalent redemption. The deliberately unsettling, tilted angles reflected the state of the ruined, fractured and dark city, filled with black marketeers, spies, refugees, thieves, and foreign powers seeking control. [This was one of the first British films shot almost entirely on location.

Others include writer/director Michael Powell's The Edge of the World (1937) and Powell's and Emeric Pressburger's The 49th Parallel (1941) (aka The Invaders).] And the film once again teamed co-stars Joseph Cotten and Orson Welles of Citizen Kane (1941) , in a tale of a foolishly-romantic, wimpy American writer (Holly Martins) of pulp westerns in occupied, post-WWII Vienna who tries to understand (and then decipher) the mysterious disappearance - vehicular accidental death and burial of an old school friend (Harry Lime) - who, unbeknownst to him, had become an exploitative, morally corrupt, and chilling black-market drug dealer and racketeer (of diluted penicillin), working out of the Russian zone.

[From 1951-52, Welles starred in a spin-off radio show titled The Lives of Harry Lime, a syndicated 52 episode series based on the adventures of his character in this film.] Anglo-Austrian director Frederick Baker created a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at the making of the film, including interviews, with the documentary essay Shadowing the Third Man (2004). This deconstruction of the film revisited various locales of the original film and compared them to the present-day restored Vienna. It also provided an account of the battles between co-producers Alexander Korda and David O. Selznick, and between scriptwriter Greene and Selznick.

In the documentary, Greene admitted for the first time: "Carol Reed was right he made a magnificent ending." The Story The credits of the complex masterpiece appear over a huge close-up of the vibrating strings of a zither, playing "The Harry Lime Theme" or "The Third Man Theme." While various documentary-style shots of post-war, divided, fragmented and occupied Vienna (a 'frontier' city dividing East and West - and governed by four Allied forces) are surveyed, an anonymous voice-over (from director Carol Reed) delivers a first-person prologue in the original UK version - suggesting that he had black market connections. [The lines only found in the UK version are in red.] [Joseph Cotten delivered the narration in the American release, delivering his own story - the lines in blue are only in the US version.] I never knew the old Vienna before the war, with its Strauss music, its glamour and [its] easy charm - Constantinople suited me better. I really got to know it in the classic period of the Black Market.

[Boots, stockings, cigarettes, and watches exchange hands.] [They could get anything if people wanted it enough and had the money to pay.] We'd run anything, if people wanted it enough- mmm - had the money to pay. Of course, a [the] situation like that does tempt amateurs, but [of course, they don't last long, not really, not like professionals] you know they can't stay the course like a professional. [A view of a dead body floating in an icy river.] Now the city - [A sign announces: "ENTERING THE AMERICAN ZONE."] it's [is] divided into four zones, you know, each occupied by a power - [Views of signs of the British, Russian, and French zones.] the American, the British, the Russian, and the French. But the center of the city - that's international, policed by an International Patrol, [A view of guard's duty being changed.] one member of each of the four powers. Wonderful.

[You can imagine what a chance they had], What a hope they had, all of them strangers to the place and none [no two] of them could speak [speaking] the same language, except a sort of smattering of German. [Four guards in a jeep each represent their nationalities.] [Oh, they were] Good fellows on the whole, did their best, you know. [Views of bombed-out sites around Vienna.] Vienna doesn't really look any worse than a lot of other European cities, bombed about a bit [a little, of course]. [Views of soldiers on guard, and then standing on parade and marching in a square.] Oh, I was gonna tell you, wait, I was gonna tell you about Holly Martins, an American. Came all the way here to visit a friend of his. The name is Lime, Harry Lime. Now Martins was broke and Lime had offered him some sort - I don't know - some sort of a job. Anyway, there he was, poor chap, happy as a lark and without a cent. [Anyway, I was dead broke when I got to Vienna.

A close pal of mine had wired me, offering me a job doing publicity work for some kind of charity he was running. I'm a writer, name's Martins, Holly Martins. Anyway, down I came, all the way to old Vienna, happy as a lark and without a dime.] An American, Western pulp novelist/writer of juvenile Western pulp stories (Zane Grey-style), Holly Martins (Joseph Cotten) [a frivolous first name to define the nature of his character] arrives at the railway station in post-war ravaged Vienna - still under Allied occupation and overrun with black markets. A youthful, sappy counterpart to the film's dark, con-artist counterpart, Harry Lime (Orson Welles), Holly is there to seek out his boyhood friend who had vaguely offered him a job (and sent him an airplane ticket), inviting him there to stay with him and author/write propaganda for a volunteer medical unit he runs. As his passport is checked by a British MP, he asks about Lime. He tells the customs official he's going to stay with a friend at 15 Stiftgasse.

The zither music dips, signifying that something is awry concerning the absence of Harry: Lime, Harry Lime....I thought he'd be here to meet me. Beginning his long, questioning search for Harry Lime, Holly makes his way to Stiftgasse 15, the location of Harry's second floor apartment, inauspiciously walking under a ladder leaning against the front of the residence. The building's architecture includes pseudo-Greek statuary, a facade of Vienna's past glory, now a city filled with corruption. [Goof: Note that the house number is 5 over the entrance to Harry Lime's apartment, not 15.] He is immediately shocked to learn from the German-speaking caretaker/Porter (Paul Hoerbiger), who is replacing a burnt-out light bulb, [a symbolic gesture of the repair of Europe], that Harry was recently killed on Thursday in a street accident - he was run over by a truck as he stepped from the sidewalk, and his coffin was taken ten minutes earlier to the cemetery: An accident, knocked over by a car in front of the house, have seen it myself, killed at once, immediately. Already in hell [pointing up mistakenly] or in heaven [pointing down mistakenly].

Sorry for the grave diggers. Hard work. It is frost. [The film both begins and ends with a funeral sequence and the burial of the same person.] Holly hurriedly rushes to the gravesite in the cemetery to attend Harry's funeral. As he approaches, he inquires about the cryptic ceremony, and is told by a distant onlooker (later identified as Major Calloway): "A fellow called Lime." A priest is saying prayers in German at the gravesite as Martins arrives - there are only a few stoic-faced onlookers and one beautiful woman. [Later, we learn it is Harry's Czech grieving mistress/girlfriend Anna Schmidt, a Russian exile and refugee.] After the ceremony, Martins is given a ride to town by cynical British military police officer Major Calloway (Trevor Howard). As they ride down the main road, Calloway notices the attractive dark-haired woman who was at the graveside walking towards the city. He follows her receding figure while looking out the car's back window.

Calloway offers to buy Holly a drink and the scene dissolves to the inside of a bar, where Martins reminisces about his old chum whom he last saw in September 1939 - his thoughts suggest a latent homosexual attraction: Holly: I guess nobody knew Harry like he did, like I did...back in school. I was never so lonesome in my life till he showed up...Best friend I ever had. Calloway: That sounds like a cheap novelette. Holly: I write cheap novelettes. Calloway: I'm afraid I've never heard of you. What's your name again? Holly: Holly Martins. The Third Man Movie Review & Film Summary (1949) | Roger Ebert Tweet Has there ever been a film where the music more perfectly suited the action than in Carol Reed 's "The Third Man"? The score was performed on a zither by Anton Karas , who was playing in a Vienna beerhouse one night when Reed heard him. The sound is jaunty but without joy, like whistling in the dark. It sets the tone; the action begins like an undergraduate lark and then reveals vicious undertones.

Advertisement The story begins with a spoken prologue ("I never knew the old Vienna, before the war. . ."). The shattered postwar city has been divided into French, American, British and Russian zones, each with its own cadre of suspicious officials. Into this sinkhole of intrigue falls an American innocent: Holly Martins (Joseph Cotton), alcoholic author of pulp Westerns. He has come at the invitation of his college chum Harry Lime. But Lime is being buried when Martins arrives in Vienna. How did Lime die? That question is the engine that drives the plot, as Martins plunges into the murk that Lime left behind. Calloway ( Trevor Howard ), the British officer in charge, bluntly says Lime was an evil man, and advises Holly to take the next train home. But Harry had a girl named Anna ( Alida Valli ), who Holly sees at Lime's grave, and perhaps she has some answers. Certainly Holly has fallen in love with her, although his trusting Yankee heart is no match for her defenses. "The Third Man" (1949) was made by men who knew the devastation of Europe at first hand.

Carol Reed worked for the British Army's wartime documentary unit, and the screenplay was by Graham Greene , who not only wrote about spies but occasionally acted as one. Reed fought with David O. Selznick , his American producer, over every detail of the movie; Selznick wanted to shoot on sets, use an upbeat score and cast Noel Coward as Harry Lime. His film would have been forgotten in a week. Reed defied convention by shooting entirely on location in Vienna, where mountains of rubble stood next to gaping bomb craters, and the ruins of empire supported a desperate black market economy. And he insisted on Karas' zither music ("The Third Man Theme" was one of 1950's biggest hits). Advertisement Reed and his Academy Award-winning cinematographer, Robert Krasker , also devised a reckless, unforgettable visual style. More shots, I suspect, are tilted than are held straight; they suggest a world out of joint. There are fantastic oblique angles. Wide-angle lenses distort faces and locations. And the bizarre lighting makes the city into an expressionist nightmare. (During a stakeout for Lime, a little balloon man wanders onto the scene, and his shadow is a monster three stories high).

Vienna in "The Third Man" is a more particular and unmistakable *place* than almost any other location in the history of the movies; the action fits the city like a hand slipping on a glove. Then there are the faces: Joseph Cotton's open, naive face contrasts with the "friends" of Harry Lime: the corrupt "Baron" Kurtz (Ernst Deutsch); the shifty Dr. Winkel (Erich Ponto), the ratlike Popescu (Siegfried Breuer). Even a little boy with a rubber ball looks like a wizened imp. The only trusting faces are those of innocents like the hall porter (Paul Hoerbiger) who tells Holly, "There was another man . . . a third man. . ." and the beefy Sgt. Paine ( Bernard Lee ), Calloway's aide, who levels the drunken Holly with a shot to the chin and then apologizes. Even the resident exiles are corrupt; Crabbin ( Wilfrid Hyde-White ), the head of the discussion group, chatters about culture while smoothly maneuvering his mistress out of sight through doors and up stairs.

As for Harry Lime: He allows Orson Welles to make the most famous entrance in the history of the movies, and one of the most famous speeches. By the time Lime finally appears we have almost forgotten Welles is even *in* the movie. The sequence is unforgettable: the meow of the cat in the doorway, the big shoes, the defiant challenge by Holly, the light in the window, and then the shot, pushing in, on Lime's face, enigmatic and teasing, as if two college chums had been caught playing a naughty prank. Advertisement The famous speech comes during an uneasy ride on a giant Ferris wheel; at one point, Lime slides open the door of the car they are riding in, and Holly uneasily wraps an arm around a post. Harry tries to justify himself: "You know what the fellow said: In Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love--they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce?

The cuckoo clock." (Greene says this speech was written by Welles.) The emotional heart of the movie is Holly's infatuation with Anna, who will love Harry and be grateful to him no matter what she learns. The scenes between Holly and Anna are enriched by tiny details, as when they visit Harry's apartment and she opens a drawer without looking--because she already knows what will be inside. Or the way she sometimes slips and calls Holly "Harry." Everyone in the movie has trouble with names. Holly calls Calloway "Callahan," and Dr. Winkle insists on "VINK-ell!" And the name on Harry Lime's tombstone is wrong, too. The chase sequence in "The Third Man" is another joining of the right action with the right location. Harry escapes into the sewer system like a cornered rat, and Reed edits the pursuit into long, echoing, empty sewer vistas, and closeups of Lime's sweaty face, his eyes darting for a way out. Presumably there would be no lights in the Vienna sewers, but there are strong light sources just out of sight behind every corner, throwing elongated shadows, backlighting Harry and his pursuers.

Advertisement The final scene in "The Third Man" is a long, elegiac sigh. It almost did not exist. Selznick and Greene originally wanted a happy ending. (Greene originally wrote, ". . . her hand was through his arm"). Reed convinced Greene he was wrong. The movie ends as it begins, in a cemetery, and then Calloway gives Holly a ride back to town. They pass Anna walking on the roadside. Holly asks to be let out of the jeep. He stands under a tree, waiting for her. She walks toward him, past him, and then out of frame, never looking. After a long pause, Holly lights a cigarette and wearily throws away the match. Joseph Cotten recalled later that he thought the scene would end sooner. But Reed kept the camera running, making it an unusually long shot, and absolutely perfect. "The Third Man" reflects the optimism of Americans and the bone-weariness of Europe after the war. It's a story about grownups and children: Adults like Calloway, who has seen at first hand the results of Lime's crimes, and children like the trusting Holly, who believes in the simplified good and evil of his Western novels.

"The Third Man" is like the exhausted aftermath of " Casablanca ." Both have heroes who are American exiles, awash in a world of treachery and black market intrigue. Both heroes love a woman battered by the war. But "Casablanca" is bathed in the hope of victory, while "The Third Man" already reflects the Cold War years of paranoia, betrayal and the Bomb. The hero doesn't get the girl in either movie--but in "Casablanca," Ilsa stays with the resistance leader to help in his fight, while in "The Third Man" Anna remains loyal to a rat. Yet Harry Lime saved Anna, a displaced person who faced certain death. Holly will never understand what Anna did to survive the war, and Anna has absolutely no desire to tell him. Advertisement Of all the movies I have seen, this one most completely embodies the romance of going to the movies. I saw it first on a rainy day in a tiny, smoke-filled cinema on the Left Bank in Paris. It told a story of existential loss and betrayal. It was weary and knowing, and its glorious style was an act of defiance against the corrupt world it pictured.

Seeing it, I realized how many Hollywood movies were like the pulp Westerns that Holly Martins wrote: naive formulas supplying happy endings for passive consumption. I read the other day that they plan to remake "The Third Man." Do you think Anna will cave in to Holly--or will she remain true to her bitter cynicism and unspeakable knowledge? Popular Blog Posts The Third Man Museum - VIENNA – Now. Forever The Third Man Museum add to my travel plan The Third Man Museum is a meeting place for people interested in film and a door-opener to Vienna’s post-war history. In addition to the extensive collection of original exhibits on the film classic “The Third Man”, which was filmed in Vienna in 1948, detailed documentation deals with the historic background to the film and shows originals from the occupation period in Vienna (1945-1955). Thirteen rooms with 2,500 original exhibits and the film zither of Anton Karas can be seen. His film music went around the world and triggered a real zither boom in the 1950s. Four hundred playable cover versions of the "Harry Lime theme" give an impression of how successful the music was at the time.

In addition, the museum owns original screenplays, cameras used on set and the cap of little Hansel. One of the highlights is a still functioning cinema projector from 1936, which plays back a short film sequence. "The Third Man" was screened on such projectors for the first time in 1950. - A film that shows Vienna like no other - a city destroyed by war and occupied by the Allies. The private museum is in the vicinity of the atmospheric Vienna Naschmarkt and depicts everyday life in post-war Vienna with a spectacular collection of originals from around the world as much as the piece of cinematic history associated with this film. A special exhibition is dedicated to the multitalented actor who played the role of Harry Lime, Orson Welles. 250 Photos, 40 posters and interviews offer an insight into the life of the complex artist. More information The Third Man Museum also presents regular zither concerts: The musician Cornelia Mayer plays musical highlights from the classic film "The Third Man" live on stage.

Dates 2016: March 26, April 16, May 7, May 14, May 28, June 18, July 2 (18:00) The Third man Locations. Location shots in Vienna of The Third Man (1949) Compiled by W. Unruh with the help of J. Innerhofer and others Find the locations which I missed. Some of the links to the official Viennese historical photos have been moved and I have no idea where they have moved to. They seem to have no interest in telling me where. Sorry. Harry Lime has no Gravestone in the Friedhof Cemetery. (His grave seems to be a path now.) Send suggestions as to what such a gravestone should look like. (Remember that both he and Harbin seem to be buried in the same grave.) Sgt. Paine- Bernard Lee Hansel young Boy- Herbert Halbik This film was selected as the best British film by the British Film Institute in 2001. It was shot on location in Vienna, Austria, with most of the interior scenes being shot in the studios in London.

For a synopsis of the film see For a detailed book on the film see "Der Dritte Mann - Wien auf den Spuren eines Filmklassikers" ( Brigitte Timmermann(text), Frederick Baker (photo)) now also published in English as The Third Man's Vienna - Celebrating a Film Classic See also Brigitte Timmermann's web site " W. Nassau was a photographer cinimatographer and location expert on the film. In 2015 he presented some memories of the time The Third Man, Exciting Events in Post War Vienna In 2004 Frederick Baker filmed a documentary on the procution of the film. Although somewhat slow and at time very annoying (projecting scenes onto Viennese buildings etc) it does offer real insight into the film. It includes interviews with Wells, Korda, Reed, and many others from the film. Shadowing the Third Man See also for the text of an interview with Carol Reed on the Third Man. One of the attractions of Vienna for Reed was the destruction from the war. Vienna escaped relatively unscathed compared to many other European cities, but a number of buildings were destroyed when the Red Army captured Vienna in '45 from the Germans.

Here is a map showing the buildings which were destroyed It is taken from an out-of-print book F&uumlhrer durch Wien und Umgebung Publisher: Freytag-Berndt und Artaria (1955) (no author listed), and shows the extent of the damage. I visited Vienna in the summer of 2002 for a month and became fascinated with the film and especially with trying to ferret out the locations which were used in the film. Some, like the Hoher Markt, were obvious, and some like Josefsplatz and Schreyvogelgasse were listed in many of the guide books to Vienna. But watching the movie (it shows in English every Friday and Sunday in the Burg Kino on the Opernring 19) I began to realize that there were other locations used as well. After I got back from the trip, I bought the Criterion 50th anniversary edition of the movie on DVD , which was recorded from a digitally enhanced and cleaned master of the film. I was surprised that no place on the web offered any of the exterior shots in the film for visitors to Vienna to use in tracking down the locations of the film.

Using a movie like the Third Man as your guide around Vienna offers one a way of looking at the city very different from the usual tourist tour. It makes one highly conscious of details which one might well miss in the more casual tourist process. For those who want a quick guide to the city, a number of companies offer "Third man" tours. The Vienna Sewer System offers a 20 minute tour of the "sewers" (actually most of the so called sewers in the film are actually the river Wien which flows along the eastern edge of the old city, and which was covered in the late 19th century). Third Man tours There are also tours which give one a both a glimpse of the sewer system, via an entrance like the one used by Harry Lime to escape Holly Martins in the famous chase scene, and also around some of the main landmarks from the movie (Josefsplatz, Michaelerplatz, Am Hof, and Schreyvogelstrasse). Vienna in the Footsteps of the Third Man I was in Vienna at the time of the infamous rains of the summer of 2002 which flooded most of central Europe.

(The picture is of Prague in the Czech during that flood.) Fortunately Vienna was protected by the auxiliary bed of the Danube which had been dug about 30 years earlier to protect it from just such a flood. It worked, but the "sewer" tours were all canceled. Actually, some of the locations of the sewer chase scenes do not exist, but were created in the studios in England. (One story has it that it was because Orson Welles refused to work in the sewers, but others dispute that. See this discussion of the making of the film. ) Below is a list of the locations in the film, with the thumbnail photos. Clicking on the small photo will bring up a full size picture (640x480) of that scene. Also with many of the locations is a picture of the same site in Vienna now. What is astonishing is how little most of the locations have changed in the past almost 60 years. For more information about the Third Man, and other links see the page There is a recent film about the Making of the Third Man Since I only got the DVD after I left Vienna, and since I am not going back there soon, I do not know where many of them were filmed.

Many are very distinctive and probably easily found if I were in Vienna. I therefor leave these as an exercise to the reader as they wander the streets of Vienna to identify. If you want to drop me a note at to tell me where the location is, I would appreciate it. See also the article for a discussion of the cinamatography and the use of odd lines and perspectives which give the film part of its disjointed feel. J. Innerhofer has also been bitten by the thirdman bug, and as he lives in Vienna, spent a lot of time at the end of 2002 and beginning of 2003 finding many of the modern locations in the film. He has found many which I missed, and also has taken pictures of many of the locations, from as point of view as close to that of the film as he could. What is astonishing is how little most of these locations have changed in almost 60 years. He has also made a map with locations of some of the scenes below. The map is labeled with the scene numbers given below. A Few of the places have also been found by Herb Ranharter the Viennese/Californian artist.

Also Alan McCrindle has taken modern shots of various locations. G. Opelt has found a few locations and corrected some location errors I made. If anyone else has pictures of modern Vienna at the scene of these locations which I could post (max size 640x480) it would also be useful. In any case I hope you have fun matching the vibrant modern city in 200 year old clothes to the scenes from a film made at one of the low points in Vienna's history. You can get in touch with me at (Sorry, because of spam, that address is an image-- you need to type it directly into your email program). Movie Exterior events Lime's Burial Locations Map of Vienna showing the locations shots for the third man that we have been able to find. The blue circles indicate more detailed maps from the list below. J Sprung, a Cinamatographer from California has transfered the coordinates of the map sites onto Google Earth. Here is a link to a kml file which you read into googleearth and it puts place markers onto Vienna for all of the locations of the scenes on the map.

Download it, save it and then load it into googleearth, or set your browser to automatically use googleearth to render this file. Or just enjoy knowing at exactly which lattitude and longitude the scenes are at. Location: Reichsbrï¿½ke? This is a view from the Reichsbrï¿½cke (see 45, 46 ) to the southwest. See here for a current view. The banks were used as a quay until the 1980ies. The large building in the background is the old storehouse at the Handelskai, nowadays it is used as the Hilton Vienna Danube ( ) Here is another picture from under the Reichsbrueke of that hotel by Ranharter. Vienna was divided into four parts from the end of the war to 1955. Occupation Zones of Vienna Whether signs in the film correspond to any of the actual zones I am not sure but they seem to. I suspect many of the signs were created for the film itself. 102 [In this scene between Martins and Calloway we have one of the subtle bloopers in the film. Calloway lays down a file with Lime's pictures on it.

But the text is a Cinematography file with Cast and Crew, and Script Report as headers. The date is 4-3-48. Since shooting for the Third Man started in Sept 48, this must have been a spare sheet lying around. This "blooper" was pointed out to me by John Sprung.] However when Anna finds out about the deal, she refuses, so Martins wants to leave Vienna. He again agrees to betray Lime after seeing the consequences to children of Lime's diluted penicillin.

Question: The film 'The Third Man' was set in which city?
Answer: Vienna